It’s only fitting that I re-share my Grandma’s famous buttermilk waffles while I’m visiting her this week. Many years ago after visiting my Grandmother and spending time in the kitchen cooking with her, I became convinced that my love for food was passed down to me. I know that it’s something that will be a part of me forever. In fact, cooking for others is absolutely my favorite thing in the world.
My grandmother is Puerto Rican, so much of the food she cooks tends to be Spanish-inspired; my Nana (great-grandmother) taught her how to cook everything from scratch when she was a young girl. Ever since then, it’s been one of her favorite things to do. When my Grandma isn’t making homemade pozole, empanadas, and arroz con pollo, she is usually baking muffins the size of my face or throwing together a ridiculous continental breakfast. Seriously give her a half hour and she’ll make you an incredible meal, but provide her with a couple of hours and you’ll have a masterpiece to eat.
She treats every meal she makes with affection, putting the utmost love into her creations; it’s an extraordinary quality. She pours her soul into stews and she throws her spice for life into Spanish rice. Cooking is like an expression to her, and everything is always made with love.
My Grandma and I are two peas in a pod. I admire her in every way. I love her best though when she’s making me brunch, which often includes her famous yet classic buttermilk waffles. Crispy on the outside, warm, fluffy, and perfect on the inside.
This is a picture of my Grandpa & Grandma. They were the ultimate romantics. Unfortunately, my Grandpa passed away a few years ago. I specifically remember this moment though. My grandpa was attempting to fix my Grandma’s watch after it suddenly broke while we were out. He made it his mission to repair it immediately himself, walking to every shop nearby to see if they had a special pin for the band. Sure enough, he found one!
They both took care of each other and I think that’s pretty incredible they were going strong for nearly 60 years. Cuties.
As I’m writing this, I’m fondly remembering the morning my Grandmother made these waffles for us, partly because they are the best waffles I’ve ever had. It was Mother’s Day and we all enjoyed a breakfast full of eggs with green chile, pastries (ugh, SO MANY PASTRIES), waffles, and of course, coffee. As I was spreading peanut butter on my waffles and drenching them with syrup (best combination ever), I looked around the table and thanked God for my amazing family. They’ve taught me so much: to cook, to be determined, to laugh, to love, and to absolutely never give up!
Now I’m the one pouring my heart and soul into the food I cook: whipping up pancakes with such care, crafting a skillet chicken (with pepperoni sauce) that only kids could adore, and browning lots of butter for the best chocolate chip cookies (the way to win anyone’s heart).
Cooking is my romance and I’m bringing it to you. I hope you’ll stay awhile and eat some ridiculously good waffles with me. With butter, syrup, and whatever else your heart desires.
What is buttermilk?
Traditionally, buttermilk is the liquid leftover after churning butter that’s higher in protein and lower in fat. Because many people do not churn their own butter (if you do, more power to ya!) there’s an easy way to make it yourself from things you probably have in your kitchen. All you need is:
- Any type of milk – even your favorite non-dairy milk!
- Add 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice or white vinegar or every 1 cup of milk.
- Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes until the milk begins to curdle, and then it’s ready to use!
You can use buttermilk in tons of baking recipes, but my favorite way to use it is obviously in these incredible homemade buttermilk waffles.
Can I use regular milk instead of buttermilk?
Yes, just add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or vinegar to your milk before using it in this recipe!
What’s the difference between buttermilk waffles and homestyle waffles?
I love making homemade buttermilk waffles because they’re lighter, more airy, and fluffier than traditional homestyle waffles. You’ll love the crispy outside of these thick buttermilk waffles paired with the tender, warm inside.
Everything you’ll need to make perfect buttermilk waffles
The best part about making homemade buttermilk waffles? They’re SO easy and made with super simple ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Flour: we’re using regular all purpose flour to give the waffles the perfect texture.
- Baking staples: you’ll need both baking powder and baking soda, plus some salt.
- Buttermilk: what makes buttermilk special is that the acidity in it reacts with the baking powder to make the waffles extra fluffy. It truly makes all the difference!
- Eggs: we’re adding 2 eggs to this waffle recipe.
- Butter: some melted butter gives these waffles the perfect amount of moisture, plus that delicious, indulgent flavor.
- Sweetener: you’ll just need a little sugar (granulated sugar, coconut, or brown sugar) for sweetness. Don’t forget vanilla extract, too! Learn how to make your own vanilla here.
How to make waffles extra crispy
To get waffles with those golden brown, crisp edges, you can either toast them after they come out of the waffle iron or you place them on a rack in the oven at 200 degrees F for 5-10 minutes.
Our favorite waffle toppings
The options are truly endless when it comes to topping your waffles! Here are some of my fav ways to do ’em up:
- Fresh berries or sliced bananas
- Chocolate chips and/or toasted nuts (you can also add these to your batter if you’d like!)
- Homemade whipped cream
- Nut butter
- Crispy bacon (for a sweet & savory combo)
- Powdered sugar
- Your favorite fruit jam
- Nutella
How to store and reheat buttermilk waffles
- To store: cool the buttermilk waffles completely, then place them in an airtight reusable bag and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months
- To reheat: I find the best way to reheat homemade waffles (especially after freezing them) is to put them in the toaster! This allows them to keep their crispy edges and fluffy insides instead of getting mushy from the microwave. You can also put them in a 200 degree F oven and toast for 5-10 minutes.
More breakfast recipes you’ll love
- Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Puff Pastry Quiche
- Change Your Life Salted Brown Butter Pancakes
- Orange Creamsicle Baked Oatmeal
- Good Morning Healthy Maple Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
- The French Toast I Can’t Stop Eating
Get all of my breakfast recipes here!
I hope you love these amazing buttermilk waffles! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you like them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Grandma's Buttermilk Waffles
Ingredients
- Cooking Spray
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups (360g) buttermilk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons sugar (regular, coconut or brown sugar will all work)
Instructions
- Preheat waffle maker. Spray generously with nonstick cooking spray or generously grease with butter.
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and sugar until blended. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pour batter into a preheated prepared waffle iron; cook according to manufacturer's directions or when steam stops.
- Top with maple syrup, peanut butter, honey, or fresh fruit preserves. Makes 4 belgian waffles.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on June 27th, 2012, republished on April 11th, 2019, and republished on May 9th, 2024.
66 comments
SUUUCHH a cute story! 🙂
This is a beautiful blog and your photos are great!
Ahh thank you!
Your grandparents are adorable! And the waffles look delicious!
I know, aren’t they so cute?
awe, how loving… i love looking at grams old recipes and baking from them~
You are so sweet and so is this post. I am sure your Nana is so proud of you and your recipes. Indeed, your future hubby is one lucky man. He’ll have grand feasts for breakfast. Yum!
haha thank you!
Grandma’s got one great waffle recipe! Your grandparents are adorable – it’s so nice to see two people who still care so deeply for one another after so many years. Very sweet post! 🙂
Ahh! I eat peanut butter and syrup on my waffles too! My uncle introduced me to that combo back when I was a kid, and everyone always thinks it’s so weird, when it’s actually AMAZING. This is such a sweet post!
Made these this morning. I won’t be trying another recipe now 🙂
If I wanted to use regular milk (out of buttermilk, whoops!) what would I have to change to make this recipe work?
To make buttermilk, simply add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice for every one cup of milk, then let it sit for 5 minutes to create buttermilk! 🙂
I made these this morning, and they were amazing! Thanks for the great recipe. Definately a keeper!
Just made these and tasty tasty is all I can say! Super easy to mix up and my 3 year old is devouring them :O) We chopped up some fresh strawberries and mixed them with a little brown sugar. A.Maz.Ing!!!!! Your Grandma knows what she’s doing!
I knew before I read the article that your grandma was Puerto Rican! Her face reminds me of my mother, both my parents are Puerto Rican and have been married for 61 years. I have a love for cooking and baking just like my mom and I’m adding your recipe to a must try! Thank you for a great story
What a great post. And amazing waffles – I’m making this for Sunday brunch!
Delicious! They are the first waffles I tried at home!
Made these today !! Extremely crispy and tasty !! I am ditching my usual recipe in favor of this one !! I didn’t have butter so substituted with 4 spoonfuls of canola oil.
So glad you enjoyed!
GORGEOUS photos! And lovely recipe, friend! xo
Thanks Dana!! xoxo
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I was searching for a recipe to try my waffle maker for the very first time. And I have a winner 😊 Just a quick question. I’m missing a step in the instructions whether the dry ingredients go info the wet ones oř vice versa. Thank you.
All fixed! 🙂 Thanks for catching that!
So lovely to read about your grandparents. A super recipe
Thanks Robbie! One of my favorites 🙂
Hello Monique I love your reciepes .you have unique and good taste . i love it just i have one rquest like i want to try grandma waffels it has eggs is there bis any subutitue i could use . In my family somebody is allergic to eggs tyhanks. i use yuour reciepe but i dont put eggs it works for me If you can help me thanks
Anita
Hi Anita! Unfortunately no, I’ve only made these as is.
I made it with 2 flax seed eggs as a replacement to eggs and it works well. 2 tbsp ground flax and 6 tbsp water. Place in fridge 10 min before using. Worked really well! Yummy!!!!
So glad to hear that!!
Hi Monique, I followed your instructions and took whole milk with lemon juice, that worked fine and as you promised, inside fluffy, outside crunchy, not too sweet – we deeply fell in love with them. Thanks for the recipe, it is really amazing!
All the best from Germany
Jutta
Hi Jutta! Thank you for your note 🙂 I’m so glad you loved these. The perfect brunch!
Delicious! I substituted gluten free flour and followed your recipe for making my own buttermilk. They came out so good! I did need to add a full 2 cups of milk because it was too thick.. but otherwise I followed it exact. Thank you!!
Perfect! Happy to hear that.
These are so fluffy and delicious. Perfect Sunday morning waffles.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Easy to follow cooking tips.
This is the BEST RECIPE THAT I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!!! This was my first time making waffles of any sort, and I researched for the longest…. and then came across this one. I tried it today and they came out PERFECT!!! Fluffy… buttery… with a hint of vanilla!!! Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe!!! You are GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
PLEASE LOOK NO FURTHER… B/C BY FAR THIS IS THE BEST!!!
Amazing! So happy you found and loved these ones!
These waffles were easy to make and delicious!!!!!
So glad you loved them!
Just made this. Absolutely delicious. Family loved them and the 1 batch made more than enough for the 4 of us.
Perfect! So happy to hear that.
So good! Curious can you use this recipe for pancakes???
I haven’t tried it! Try this pancake recipe 🙂 https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/blueberry-vanilla-buttermilk-greek-yogurt-pancakes/
This is a great recipe. My modifications: part whole wheat flour, 3 T oil/3 T butter instead of all butter, and one T sugar instead of two. (I found two T sugar to be too sweet.) Thinned with a little water, this recipe also makes excellent pancakes. I’ve always subbed Greek yogurt mixed with milk for real buttermilk, and I’ve also tried the milk and vinegar or lemon substitution, but recently I’ve been using real buttermilk and there’s no comparison. Both waffles and pancakes come out so much better. I recommend using buttermilk.
I’m glad that worked out well! Perfect breakfast 🙂
These waffles were so easy to prepare!! Quickly whipped up the buttermilk and got them done! Thanks for the easy directions Monique! It was my first time making waffles and they turned out so good!!!
Perfect! So glad you loved them!
Just made these waffles for the men in my house and they were a Huge hit! Simple recipe with amazing results, it doesn’t get any better in my kitchen ~ they’re light and fluffy, beautifully bowned and delicious!
Thank you for sharing this recipe and thank your Grandma 🙂
So happy to hear that!!
Hi Monique, these waffles sound delicious but I don’t eat white all purpose flour? Can I make this with whole wheat or spelt flour ?
Hi, there! I haven’t tried these with whole wheat or spelt flour, but I think a whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat flour) would be great in here to keep them light and fluffy 🙂
These were amazing! The batter seemed thicker than what I was used to but I went with it and I’m so glad I did! Super thick and fluffy without the hassle of whipping egg whites like most Belgian waffle recipes. I know it says feeds 4, but I def think that could be stretched to 5 or 6. On my second batch I may have spilled some chocolate chips into the batter… would 100% recommend!
So glad they were easy and delicious, Lindsey! And omg YES to the chocolate chips 😍
Great recipe! Turned out crispy and light without having to whip eggs or add unnecessary ingredients! Will make again!
These waffles are the best ones I’ve made! And I’ve made A LOT. This is my new go-to recipe! I usually drown my waffles in syrup, but these were so great that I barely used any!
SUPER delicious and easy recipe, tastes like the dreamiest diner waffle you could imagine. I needed to add a little extra buttermilk to mine 🙂
Ahh that’s what I’m going for with this recipe–happy you loved it!!
I made these for my family on Christmas Day (there’s just three of us). They are SO good! The batter seemed really lumpy and thick, so I was a bit concerned, but my fears were unfounded. They turned out great! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
These are the fluffiest, softest waffles I have ever had!!! I think the eggs really helped in the fluffiness. 10/10
These waffles are light fluffy and delicious!
Love the way you explain how each component participate in the process. Also, the fact that if I have missing anything, the substitute that you suggest to use is awesome. Thank you for your recipe.
Buttermilk is great! Raising our four kids we always kept it on hand for pancakes, but now with an empty nest, I found a powdered buttermilk that works great. Appreciated your tip about the lemon juice and I have tried that also. Love your post about your Grandparents! What a legacy she has passed down. I come from a family of scratch Southern cooks and I’m now passing those recipes to my children and grandchildren. Such a blessing!
I tried this recipe out because I had buttermilk to use up and my normal recipe doesn’t take buttermilk. These weren’t bad, although if I hadn’t beat the egg whites separately and folded them in at the end like I usually do, these would have been way to dense and heavy for my taste . The batter is quite thick but the flavor is good.
Glad that trick worked out well and the flavor was good!